GSA builds geospatial niche on Schedule 70

By Mark Rockwell

Feb 13, 2019

NOTE: This article first appeared on FCW.com.

Geospatial data is an increasingly important tool for federal agencies leveraging new technologies and applications. The General Services Administration is accommodating this trend with a new cadre of geospatial vendors on its IT Schedule.

GSA is partnering with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency on blanket purchase agreements that encompass 11 trusted vendors for "Earth Observation Solutions" through IT Schedule 70 under a new special item number.

The new Schedule 70 initiative leverages schedules and contracts to facilitate commercial purchases of geospatial Earth observation data, products and services to agencies across the government.

"The commercial earth observation industry has experienced accelerated growth and we're very pleased to position our offerings to provide the latest in emerging technology and solutions while making it easier for our government customers to reach these companies," said Bill Zielinski, GSA's acting assistant commissioner for the Office of Information Technology in a statement.

The GSA/NGA partnership will support the Commercial Initiative to Buy Operationally Responsive GEOINT – dubbed CIBORG.

CIBORG was set up by GSA and NGA in 2016 to give NGA access to GSA's Multiple Award Schedules Program to acquire commercially available, unclassified data on an as-needed basis.

BPAs simplify the acquisition process and reduce costs by handling repetitive buys for supplies or services through accounts with trusted suppliers, it said.

Mark Rockwell is a senior staff writer at FCW, whose beat focuses on acquisition, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy.

Before joining FCW, Rockwell was Washington correspondent for Government Security News, where he covered all aspects of homeland security from IT to detection dogs and border security. Over the last 25 years in Washington as a reporter, editor and correspondent, he has covered an increasingly wide array of high-tech issues for publications like Communications Week, Internet Week, Fiber Optics News, tele.com magazine and Wireless Week.

Rockwell received a Jesse H. Neal Award for his work covering telecommunications issues, and is a graduate of James Madison University.